Rick Hahn: White Sox Entering Rebuild Phase In Which Most Patience Is Required

(670 The Score) While there are no exact demarcation lines, the White Sox are nearing the end of the first phase of their rebuild — the acquisition of an abundance of young talent. The organization did so with the high-profile trades of Chris Sale, Adam Eaton and Jose Quintana and the accompanying deals of nearly their entire bullpen throughout the 2017 season.

What becomes the focus now is the development of that young talent. And as that awaits, general manager Rick Hahn is quick to remind that it’s the longest phase of the rebuild, a step that won’t be completed in a year-plus like the talent acquisition effort was.

“The second phase, this development phase, is perhaps the one you’ve heard me say repeatedly is going to require the most patience,” Hahn said on the Mully and Hanley Show on 670 The Score on Monday morning. “When you get to, you mentioned the mental or psychological side of it, that’s probably the hardest part of all this, is being patient enough to allow guys the latitude to develop and inevitably fail and then rebound from that failure.

“And before you decide, ‘Oh, this person is not going to help us in Chicago and we’ve got a hole here,’ we hope at the end of this year, we know we’ll know a lot more about a lot of our guys. It will hopefully put us in a better position to project where is the organization’s strengths and where are the potential holes where we need to go outside the organization either via trade or free agency to patch in order to get a championship core together.”

Pitchers Reynaldo Lopez, Lucas Giolito and Carson Fulmer and second baseman Yoan Moncada are among the young White Sox players who have already reached the big league level. Right-hander Michael Kopech and outfielder Eloy Jimenez are among the prospects who are likely to get the call-up at some point in 2018.